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What can be imagined as housing services now offered by IT providers?

In the classical concept, it is “accommodation” of the server architecture of the client in a specialized housing hall. It is equipped with professional technologies for power, connectivity and security and constant professional supervision. A client who would like to run their servers in the same comfortable conditions by themselves would pay many times more than the housing center UK colocation services.

How would you summarize the main advantages of placing your corporate infrastructure in a professional housing? Are there some unexpected benefits at first sight?

I would summarize the advantages in a nutshell into three points. A customer who entrusts their servers to a UK colocation does not have to solve any connectivity problems. It is scaled according to the client’s requirements in the order of Gigabits to tens of Gigabits. Equipping the data center with large-capacity UPSs and back-up power units will ensure that potential power outages in the grid are covered and 24/7 availability for key business applications and systems. The third category is the security of client data from external misuse and the physical security of the data room itself.

Among the less obvious benefits, I would include for example security against natural disasters, efficient data backup solutions and usually cheaper prices for traffic abroad.

The main benefits of housing are savings on hardware, energy, and additional services, but also the cost of internal IT management. Businesses can leave the IT management necessary for their operations in the hands of experts and focus on their core business. The good news is also that the offer of housing center services is also diverse in our market.

But how do you know who can safely entrust your data in a diverse range? Or – what should the company focus on when choosing to house, or what main requirements should the provider meet?

Companies should, first of all, consider what key requirements they have for housing providers. For example, if a company expects high traffic to the Internet, it should choose a provider that provides sufficient connectivity at a good price. If the client wants to run key business applications on the Rackspace colocation in the housing centers, they should choose a provider offering 24/7 supervision and technical support, a redundant UPS and its backup unit. Companies that manage sensitive or customer data should choose a housing center based on the quality of data security against theft or DoS attacks. I would add that although we are in the world of ones and zeros, the helpful attitude, willingness, and expertise of the provider staff should remain one of the key decision-making factors.

Is it a solution for large companies, or is it “reachable” for smaller and medium-sized businesses?

I would go even further – housing in a professional center is so accessible today that even individuals can reach it. You can rent from one server blade to dozens of racks and choose the appropriate power capacity, connectivity, and additional services.

What types of companies use housing services most often?

In our housing centers, we meet a very diverse set of customers and their requirements. However, our facilities are built to suit everyone. Among our clients, you will find individuals who operate only one website or mail server to the supranational financial institutions, to whom we “accommodate” the entire rack farms.

I assume that housing services also show the demands of customers on virtualization and cloud use. How significant changes in the equipment and management of datacentres does this for the provider?

From our perspective, virtualized solutions require significant investments in the necessary hardware and software equipment and its management. On the other hand, it is today’s standard, which in the long term saves considerable financial resources.

Can we generally say that housing services are popular among Czech companies? Is it more interested in increasing or decreasing interest?

From our point of view, the demand for classical housings is rather stagnating given the expansion of virtualization and the relatively high degree of market saturation. Therefore, it is necessary to offer ever better and cheaper services than competitors. And scale the offer to be affordable to a wide range of clients.

In today’s IT jungle, there is a risk of data being lost or misused, especially if it is stored somewhere outside the company. What guarantees do users of these services offered by companies like Dial Telecom have? In other words: to what extent is their data stored with external companies safe?

We invest considerable resources in securing client data against Internet attacks and infrastructure security in the collocation center. After all, data security is one of the main reasons why clients use these services. Access to these areas is carefully monitored and logged, seagulls are lockable. As I said, there is a continuous power supply and data can be redundantly backed up – there is virtually no risk of data loss. The halls are also equipped with an extinguisher based on inert gases, which will not damage the equipment itself. The hall is connected to the backbone optical network from one place. Already on this link, Internet traffic is carefully monitored and, thanks to advanced technologies, potential threats are reliably filtered off this front line.